Steeple Envy

Luke 6:45(NIV) "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks"

Today I was reminded once again of how full of hate select pastors can be while throwing it under the title of “anointed” or “righteously indignant.” I heard another message that was pointing right at me and things I used to do as a youth pastor. It never ceases to amaze me when much of a pastors message is about how wrong everyone else is and how right they are. These kind of messages truly reflect a speakers heart that “for out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks” and what is being spoken is nothing less than jealousy and insecurity. These are the people who don't have much of a message so they must tear down everyone else to make themselves look and sound good.

There is a simple way a person can tell who is insecure in a group of people. Usually the insecure person is the one that points out of the flaws of everyone else. Why is this? Are they sad they are not like the thing/person they are pointing out? Do they feel inadequate? Are they compensating for the lack of stuff they don't have? The world will never know. What I do know is usually the ones that do this kind of thing are the ones who claim to be the least judgmental. However, all a person has to do is sit back and listen to a message and I am quite sure you will find more spiritual fruit from a re-run of Beavis and Butthead than you would from a message like these.

What I find amazing and I make a conscious effort not to do is talk about other ministries in my messages. What is it going to accomplish? Nine times out of ten if I do talk about the Catholics or Lutherans or SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW it is to pray for them or wish them well. What kind of pastor would I be if I kept talking about other ministries through my messages only to try and escalate my own ministry. The message that would send is “basically my church/ministry is so wrong and off base that I have to tear down other ministries/ministers in order to make mine look better.” This is what I would call “steeple envy.”

Over and over I hear people tell me to “just let it go and move on” when I hear my name referenced in messages that bash me. Some ministries have begun to wise up and not use my name because of backlash. However, I believe it is important to talk about. IN FACT I would encourage those that attend a church like this to re-examine what is being taught. I think people prefer to be taught Biblical principles and study deeper things rather than putting down other ministries so that theirs would be exalted. It appears that attitude does reflect leadership because in a church where this is the common practice (just listen to any podcast from a pastor/leader to figure out if it is true or not) than it is safe to assume the leadership is insecure and has quite a bit of steeple envy therefore causing it to over compensate.

Yes the day will come when I visit these churches unannounced. What a day that shall be.